Sulky-plow



(No Model L. S. PLATAU.

SULKY PLOW.

No. 482,943. Patented Sept. 20, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS S. FLATAU, OF PITTSBURG, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR TO B. F. AVERY & SONS, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

SU LKY-PL'OW.

SPECIFICATION formng'part of Letters Patent No. 482,943, dated September 20, 1892.

Application filed Tune 22, 1892. Serial No. 437,560. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, LOUIS S. FLATAU, of Pittsburg, in the county of Camp and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sulky-Plows; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to thc accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

As is well understood by those familiar with the manufacture and use of sulky-plows, it is common and necessary to build the sulky or carriage on which the driver of the team rides and from the frame of which the plow (of one or another species) is suspended or depends so that the wheels can be set and used either in nearly or quite vertical planest'. e., with their axes horizontal-after the fashion of all carriage or cart wheels, or with one wheel (that one which has to run or travel in the furrow) canted or set at a very considerable angle or degree of Obliquity, so that that portion of the wheels rim which rests on the ground does so at a point under that side of the sulky-frame to which said canted wheel is attached. In sulky-plows heretofore thus made with one wheel to cant, the means by which the canting of the wheel has been rendered possible have been such as to involve a considerable weight of metal and a corresponding expense in the manufacture of the implements, besides having been quite complicated in construction, and hence not always easy of manipulation or management by the ordinary farm-hand, who is usually unskilled in mechanics. I propose to provide for use a cant-wheel sulky-plow (or plowcarriage) which, while it shall be exceedingly light, eiiicient, and durable with reference to the wheel-canting devices of the carriage, shall have these devices so very simple in construction and mode of operation that the farmer most unskilled in handling tools or performing any machinework cannot fail to readily manage or manipulate the wheelcanting mechanism or devices of my improved carriage.

To these main ends and objects my present A invention may be said to consist, essentially,

in the novel construction of wheel-Gauting de vice for sulkyplowawhich will be found hereinafter fully described, and that will be found most particularly pointed out in the claim of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art of making and familiar with the use of sulky-plows to understand and practice my invention, I will now proceed to more fully describe the same, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specitioation, and in which I have shown my improvement carried into effect in precisely that form of machine in which I have so far practiced it, though more or less modification may be made without departing from the principle of construction and mode of operation peculiar to my improved canting device.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of an approved form ot' sulky-plow known in the market as Averys Simple Sulky or Universal Plow Oarriage,7 having my improvement embodied therein. Fig. 2 is apartial back view of the same with the wheels set straight. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but with the furrow-wheel canted.

In the several figures the same part will be found always designated by the same letter of reference.

A is the frame, B the tongue or pole, C the drivers seat, and E G the two wheels, of a sulky-plow carriage of the type alluded to provided with all the usualdevices or details of construction, which need not be herein particularized, while F is the beam, and I the mold-board, of an ordinary plow attached in a well-known manner to the saddle, with which the lower bail-like portion of the sulky-frame is provided.

G is the f urrow-wheel, that is adapted to be canted or set inclined underward of the carriage at the lowermost or contacting portion of its periphery.

To render the wheel capable of being set to run in either a vertical plane, as seen at Fig. 2, or in a canted condition or oblique plane, as shown at Fig. 3, I construct the carriage in the following manner: The vertical portion or leg of the frame A at one side ot thelatter has its lower end formed or arranged at an angle from the perpendicular, as seen at Z, said inwardly-inclined depending portion Z being of course formed with an oblong aperture, through which passes the axle, .or shaft m, on which is mounted the hub Za of the Wheel G, and at each side of the inclined device Z is arranged on the axle m a collar or Washer-like device, such as shown at o and p, each of which is triangular in shape in vertical central cross-section. The outer Wedgeshaped Washer o is confined between the inclined deviceZ on one side and a shoulder of the wheel-axle m on the other, While the in-` ner collar p fits and bears at its outer surface against the inclined device Z and is confined between it and a nut s, which is applied to the inner threaded end of the wheel-axle.

In the use or operation of myimproved machine When the axle m and its accompanying collars or Washers o p are all adj usted and securely clamped or fastened together by means of nut s in the positions shown in Fig. 2, the furrow-wheel G is set and Works like the other wheel.

Whenever it` may be desired to cant the wheel, so as to have it run in the furrow after the fashion illustrated at Fig. 3, it is only necessary to loosen the nut s, turn the washers o p around on the axle a half-turn, and then,with the axle changed to the position in which it is shown at Fig. 3, again tighten up the nut s.

It will be observed that by reason -of the peculiar angling or inclined shape of the part Z of the frame at the furrow side of the carriage and the combination therewith, and with the wheel-axle fm. of the Wedge-shaped washers o p arranged and operating as specified, I am enabled, with the use simply of the supplemental devices o p (which weigh onlya few ounces) to render the carriage capable of use with its furrow-wheel G, set either as seen at Fig. 2 or as shown at Fig. 3; and it will be seen that inasmuch as the shifting or adjusting of the machine from fone to the other of the two necessary conditions requires only the manipulation hereinbefore explained, and involves only the use of a wrench and the turning loose and tight again of the nut s, the farmer least skilled in the use of tools and having no experience as a mechanician can hardly fail to properly shift or adj ust the wheel G from one to the other of its two Working 5o positions, as the character of work to be done or the kind of plow being used and the nature of the land may render necessary or desirable. Of course the precise forms as well as the proportions of parts and the minor details may be varied more or less without changing the novel principle of construction and mode of operation of the carriage shown and described, and hence without departing from the spirit of my invention, the gist of which rests in the use together of the inclined device Z, tapering pieces o p, and the Wheel-axle, substantially as I have explained.

Having now so fully explained my novel construction of plow that those skilled in the art can easily understand and practice my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a sulky-plow carriage, the combination, with the frame of the carriage and the axle of the furrow-Wheel, of an inclined perforated portion or device Z, the Washers or collar-like devices arranged on either side of the part Z and penetrated by the axle of the wheel, and means for clampingtogether rigidly the combined parts, all substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto setmy hand this 8d day of May, 1892.

LOUIS S. FLATAU.

In presence of- J. E. M. FAUL, J No. S. FLETCHER. 

